Sunday, June 10, 2012

Accepting Annoyances

"It is clear enough to me now that life anywhere on earth is filled with opportunities of silently accepting contradictions, humiliations, and misunderstandings. For the most part they are small annoyances; yet they can be potent factors in ridding ourselves of our selfishness and pride and in preparing ourselves for real recollection and loving union with God. These disturbing situations are hard to accept in the beginning. But we need not be saints to realize that we ought to try to do more than put up with them. If we embrace them wholeheartedly, they become desirable; they cannot be embraced wholeheartedly unless we turn to God and ask for His help, and it is precisely this recognition of our need of God' help and our asking for it which immediately brings Him to our aid and leaves us with a consciousness of His nearness and His love, so much so, in fact, that many would not want to be without trials which bring such peace to the soul."

My Beloved: The Story of a Carmelite Nun by Mother Catherine Thomas, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1955. p. 91